By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
NORTH WEBSTER — Kosciusko County Republicans — just a week from Election Day — had their annual Hall of Fame dinner in North Webster Tuesday night.
The overall arching theme from Congressman Rudy Yakym and others was simple. They urged Republicans not to be complacent about the lack of races in Kosciusko County because they need to ensure a big early victory on election night for Donald Trump.
The keynote speech by Indiana Republican Party Chairman Randy Head looked at the legacy of Abe Lincoln and his desire to convert enemies into friends following the Civil War.
Head admitted that that sense of smoothing over rough spots runs counter to Trump’s campaign history marked by personal insults.
“It works for The Donald. It absolutely does and he’s not going to change. But other people who try to imitate that … it doesn’t work for them — especially in a small community,” Head said.
“We can attack their ideas and we can win with our ideas because our ideas are better,” he said.
Also in attendance was Lt. Gov. candidate Micah Beckwith who has quickly become an outspoken firebrand on the ticket with gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun.
Beckwith was asked about his emerging role.
“Yeah, I think it fires up the base. I don’t really see myself as an outspoken firebrand. I just see myself calling out the nonsense the left is trying to push into our culture. They think boys can be girls and girls can be boys and I just think that’s nonsensical,” Beckwith said.
He said he’s most excited about Braun’s plan to revamp property taxes and downplayed any negative impact it might have on local government.
“No we’re not going to let that happen. It’s going to be good for everybody. We’re going to find solutions. We can everybody to the table — local officials and state officials,” he said.
The GOP also honored several people Congressman Yakym presented an award to Brad Jackson who is retiring after 28 years as a county commissioner. Michelle Puckett was chosen as the Woman of the Year and Dan Thystrup, a North Webster town council member was chosen as the Man of the Year.
